I hope you enjoyed all that slapping leather last episode, because the sense of doom has returned. How does Tara, who faked a miscarriage and falsely accused Gemma of kicking her in the stomach, think this will play out? Isn’t she still planning on divorcing Jax? Did Tara expect Gemma to not actually strike her? Is she hoping Jax will later take Gemma’s side in a she said/she said, which will give her a timely reason to file for divorce? Do we really think Wendy or Unser won’t come clean? That’s the beauty of taking down Gemma for something she didn’t do: You allow people to feel for her. For a moment, in a certain light, she’s the underdog instead of the big bad wolf. And what happens if Jax ever does find out the truth? How do you forgive someone for putting you through that pain? Before we start the recap, I’ve got to know:

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Here we go.

We opened with our usual scene-setting montage. The guys were all back in the clubhouse wreckage, standing up John Teller’s bike, dusting off the Reaper table, and loading and unloading a moving truck. Tara dropped the boys off at daycare and hugged a solemn Wendy, whose demeanor made perfect sense in hindsight. Nero, wearing prison orange, argued with his lawyer. Venus steeled herself in front of a mirror, spraying perfume on her ample cleavage. The DA read the front-page headlines touting no arrests or leads in the Catholic school shooting.

SAMCRO’s new/temporary clubhouse is the old Charming Scoops & Sweets shop, which Jax was able to rent from Mayor Hale. On the plus side, there’s plenty of refrigerator space for cases of Miller Lite. Among the negatives, those glass windows on the bottom floor make me nervous. (Cue flashes of Tig sending Pope’s daughter through the glass at an outdoor café and the drive-by at Barosky’s bakery.) Hale informed Jax and Bobby that the bomb spooked the entire town. Now folks want to talk about how to get rid of the M.C. at the council meeting next week. The mayor has veto power, but Hale isn’t expecting to be reelected. That means the club has roughly three months to win the town over again. Man, Hale was sad in that scene. I guess the sight of a half-empty block on Main Street will do that to a man who thought he’d be bringing opportunity to Charming. The transition of power from Pope to August Marks had slowed down the breaking of ground on Charming Heights. The club’s maintainance contracts won’t kick in until the equipment is rolling, which could be another six months, Hale said. Are we surprised/impressed that the guys were later seen cleaning their own storefront? I guess all the Croweaters have day jobs. Proving Hale right, people avoided walking too close to the club members on the street. Things felt slightly more normal when the Reaper table was set up upstairs.

Seeing Tara draw her own blood into a blood bag, I knew my suspicion that she was faking a pregnancy and plotting a miscarriage was correct. She’s had to speed things up since her trial date moved. Tara thanked Margaret for doing all that Tara had no right to ask her to do. Margaret didn’t need comforting, she was giving the pep talk – what Tara was about to do may feel extreme, she said, but Tara had to stay focused on the big picture.

Speaking of dire times calling for desperate measures, the DA visited Nero and reminded him/us that his priest and biker queen alibis cancel each other out, that he has a long rap sheet (even if he’s been a good boy for a decade), and that murdered escort Erin’s DNA was found in his truck. I wish Eli could just tell Nero they’ve found proof that Toric killed Erin, but since he can’t/won’t, the DA has to press Nero hard: If he testifies that Jax and the Sons sold him the KG-9 that ended up in the 11-year-old shooter’s hand, he’ll walk – straight back to his son. She gave him 24 hours to think it over.